Some of the most unlikely victims of the war in Iraq are right here in the United States sitting in their family rooms.
If you have children, particularly young children, "turn the television off," said Assistant Professor of Psychology Julie Dunsmore, a developmental psychologist. Young children are not able to differentiate between repeated footage and when it is shown for the first time. Similarly they have a limited understanding of distances and may not realize what they're seeing is too far away to hurt them.
In a study of how children reacted to September 11 news footage, Dunsmore found that children who watched television were less able to cope with what happened and had more negative reactions to the attacks.
"What we found is that kids who had more frequent exposure to the media had fewer ideas of how they could deal with the attacks," Dunsmore said. "Kids were most helped by parents who had open attitudes, who talked about feeling anger, fear and other emotions, who explained how to work through those feelings."
If parents are worrying about a family member who is in the armed forces, the children will pick up on their parents anxiety. Dunsmore suggested parents discuss what's happening with their children and help children do something positive — even if it's only in their own neighborhood.
"Find something that will make them feel they have made a contribution," she suggested. "It could be raising money for children internationally or encouraging your children to rake an elderly neighbor's lawn. Even if it's not directly related (to the war), they'll feel like they're making a positive contribution to the world."
Children aren't the only ones potentially troubled by frequent images of war. Adults can be just as likely to experience increased stress levels and anxiety.
"Americans are probably more conflicted about the war and less certain of its outcome than has ever before been the case," said Professor of Anthropology Doug Raybeck. "Part of our uncertainty is due to our newly acknowledged vulnerability, part of it is due to the complexity of the undertaking and part to the knowledge that most of the world does not readily agree with our position."
Raybeck said the barrage of live television and Internet coverage of the war brings us "closer" to the fighting than ever before.
"The immediacy with which both information and images of the current conflict are made available exceeds that of Desert Storm and has no true historic parallel," he observed. "Like a rabbit watching an approaching fox, people may find themselves transfixed by the proximity of events spilling forth from their televisions and computers. This glut of information may comfort some and disturb others, but it means that, as a nation, we will be far less able to distance ourselves from this conflict."
Bob Kazin, director of Counseling and Psychological Services, recommends that people find a balance between keeping informed of the latest war developments and maintaining a level of normalcy in their lives.
"It becomes increasingly important that we deal with our increased sense of anxiety and stress through maintaining healthy patterns of sleeping and eating, appropriate and regular exercise, and our usual attention to our professional responsibilities," Kazin said. "We must also include our friends, family members and spiritual communities for support when needed.
The American Psychological Association has more on building "resilience in a time of war." See http://helping.apa.org/resilience/war.html
